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Belgian Coccinellidae - Ladybird beetles in Belgium

Citation

Adriaens T, San Martin y Gomez G, Maes D, Brosens D, Desmet P (2021). Belgian Coccinellidae - Ladybird beetles in Belgium. Version 1.4. Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/0refva accessed via GBIF.org on 2025-10-13.

Description

The Belgian Coccinellidae dataset which is published, is the result of a merge of 4 datasets. The INBO (Research Institute for Nature and Forest; Flemish Region Database), the DFF database (The Walloon Region Database), Observations.be data provided by Natagora (The Walloon Region and Brussels Capital Region) and the Walloon Region Online Encoding Tool (DEMNA - OFFH, observatoire.biodiversite.wallonie.be/encodage) data. At present, the database contains about 80.000 records, of which 15% come from museum collections and literature data. Collection events minimally consist of species, number of individuals, stage (adults, larvae and pupae), observation date, observer and location. Original locations as well as collection material were attributed to 1x1 km or 5x5 km grid cells of the UTM grid (Universal Transverse Mercator). A large part of the Belgian territory has been surveyed for ladybird beetles: the database contains records for at least 85% of all 5x5km UTM grid cells (N = 1376) in Belgium. Additionally, data on substratum plants, height in the vegetation, sampling method, habitat type, surrounding landscape, slope orientation, soil type, humidity, vegetation cover and behaviour were noted. In 1999, the Belgian Ladybird Working Group Coccinula launched a large scale field survey on 40 native ladybird species (Coccinellinae, Chilocorinae and Epilachninae) and to date has more than 500 volunteers providing distribution data. They actively search for ladybird beetles in a variety of habitats using sweep nets, beating trays, visual search, light trapping, pitfall traps and other sampling methods. Distribution, habitat and substrate plant information is also noted on a standard recording form. The working group maintains a database of observations, literature and collection data of Coccinellidae from 1800 onwards. Preliminary atlases have been published for the whole Belgian territory (Branquart et al., 1999; Adriaens and Maes, 2004) and updated distribution maps are available online, on demand and through the working group's newsletter. The published dataset contains most of the data maintained by the working group. For the time being, only the original INBO database is published.

Sampling Description

Study Extent

In 1999, the Belgian Ladybird Working Group Coccinula launched a large scale field survey on 40 native ladybird species (Coccinellinae, Chilocorinae and Epilachninae) and to date has more than 500 volunteers providing distribution data. They actively search for ladybird beetles in a variety of habitats using sweep nets, beating trays, visual search, light trapping, pitfall traps and other sampling methods. Distribution, habitat and substrate plant information is also noted on a standard recording form. The working group maintains a database of observations, literature and collection data of Coccinellidae from 1800 onwards. Preliminary atlases have been published for the whole Belgian territory (Branquart et al., 1999; Adriaens and Maes, 2004) and updated distribution maps are available online, on demand and through the working group's newsletter.

Sampling

Collection events minimally consist of species, number of individuals, stage (adults, larvae and pupae), observation date, observer and location. Locations are attributed to 1x1 km or 5x5 km grid cells of the UTM grid (Universal Transverse Mercator). At present, the database contains about 60.000 records, of which 15% come from museum collections and literature data. A large part of the Belgian territory has now been surveyed for ladybird beetles: the database contains records for 85% of all 5x5km UTM grid cells (N = 1376) in Belgium. Additionally, information on substratum plants, height in the vegetation, sampling method, habitat type, surrounding landscape, slope orientation, soil type, humidity, vegetation cover and behaviour was noted on the recording form. In certain cases Individualcount is an estimate of the actual number of specimen present.

Quality Control

All records are validated.

Method steps

  1. More than 500 volunteers providing distribution data. They actively search for ladybird beetles in a variety of habitats using sweep nets, beating trays, visual search, light trapping, pitfall traps, and other sampling methods.

Additional info

To allow anyone to use this dataset, we have released the data to the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). We would appreciate however, if you read and follow these norms for data use (http://www.inbo.be/en/norms-for-data-use) and provide a link to the original dataset whenever possible. If you use these data for a scientific paper, please cite the dataset following the applicable citation norms and/or consider us for co-authorship. We are always interested to know how you have used or visualized the data, or to provide more information, so please contact us via the contact information provided in the metadata, opendata@inbo.be or https://twitter.com/LifeWatchINBO. For any further use of the dataset, first contact Tim Adriaens (Tim.adriaens@inbo.be)

Taxonomic Coverages

All species in this dataset are ladybird beetles (Coccinellidae). The top 3 recorded species are Coccinella septempunctata (15%), the invasive Harmonia axyridis (13%), and Propylea quatuordecimpunctata (10%).
  1. Animalia
    common name: animals rank: kingdom
  2. Arthropoda
    rank: phylum
  3. Insecta
    common name: insects rank: class
  4. Coccinellidae
    common name: ladybird beetles rank: family
  5. Adalia bipunctata
    common name: two-spot ladybird rank: species
  6. Adalia decempunctata
    common name: ten-spotted ladybird rank: species
  7. Anatis ocellata
    common name: eyed ladybird rank: species
  8. Anisosticta novemdecimpunctata
    common name: water ladybird rank: species
  9. Aphidecta obliterata
    common name: larch ladybird rank: species
  10. Calvia decemguttata
    rank: species
  11. Calvia quatuordecimguttata
    common name: cream-spot ladybird rank: species
  12. Calvia quindecimguttata
    rank: species
  13. Chilocorus bipustulatus
    common name: heather ladybird rank: species
  14. Chilocorus renipustulatus
    common name: kidney-spot ladybird rank: species
  15. Clitostethus arcuatus
    rank: species
  16. Coccidula rufa
    rank: species
  17. Coccidula scutellata
    rank: species
  18. Coccinella hieroglyphica
    common name: hieroglyphic ladybird rank: species
  19. Coccinella magnifica
    common name: scarce seven-spotted ladybird rank: species
  20. Coccinella quinquepunctata
    common name: five-spot ladybird rank: species
  21. Coccinella septempunctata
    common name: seven-spot ladybird rank: species
  22. Coccinella undecimpunctata
    common name: eleven-spot ladybird rank: species
  23. Coccinula quatuordecimpustulata
    rank: species
  24. Cryptolaemus montrouzieri
    rank: species
  25. Cynegetis impunctata
    rank: species
  26. Exochomus nigromaculatus
    rank: species
  27. Exochomus quadripustulatus
    common name: pine ladybird rank: species
  28. Halyzia sedecimguttata
    common name: orange ladybird rank: species
  29. Harmonia axyridis
    common name: harlequin ladybird rank: species
  30. Harmonia quadripunctata
    common name: cream-streaked ladybird rank: species
  31. Henosepilachna argus
    common name: bryony ladybird rank: species
  32. Hippodamia septemmaculata
    rank: species
  33. Hippodamia tredecimpunctata
    common name: thirteen-spot ladybird rank: species
  34. Hippodamia variegata
    common name: Adonis ladybird rank: species
  35. Hyperaspis campestris
    rank: species
  36. Hyperaspis concolor
    rank: species
  37. Myrrha octodecimguttata
    common name: 18-spot ladybird rank: species
  38. Myzia oblongoguttata
    common name: striped ladybird rank: species
  39. Nephus bipunctatus
    rank: species
  40. Nephus quadrimaculatus
    rank: species
  41. Nephus redtenbacheri
    rank: species
  42. Oenopia conglobata
    rank: species
  43. Oenopia impustulata
    rank: species
  44. Platynaspis luteorubra
    rank: species
  45. Propylea quatuordecimpunctata
    common name: 14-spot ladybird rank: species
  46. Psyllobora vigintiduopunctata
    common name: 22-spot ladybird rank: species
  47. Rhyzobius chrysomeloides
    rank: species
  48. Rhyzobius forestieri
    rank: species
  49. Rhyzobius litura
    rank: species
  50. Scymnus abietis
    rank: species
  51. Scymnus apetzi
    rank: species
  52. Scymnus ater
    rank: species
  53. Scymnus auritus
    rank: species
  54. Scymnus femoralis
    rank: species
  55. Scymnus ferrugatus
    rank: species
  56. Scymnus frontalis
    rank: species
  57. Scymnus haemorrhoidalis
    rank: species
  58. Scymnus interruptus
    rank: species
  59. Scymnus limbatus
    rank: species
  60. Scymnus mimulus
    rank: species
  61. Scymnus nigrinus
    rank: species
  62. Scymnus pallipediformis
    rank: species
  63. Scymnus rubromaculatus
    rank: species
  64. Scymnus rufipes
    rank: species
  65. Scymnus suturalis
    rank: species
  66. Sospita vigintiguttata
    rank: species
  67. Stethorus punctillum
    rank: species
  68. Subcoccinella vigintiquatuorpunctata
    common name: 24-spot ladybird rank: species
  69. Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata
    common name: 16-spot ladybird rank: species
  70. Vibidia duodecimguttata
    rank: species
  71. Coleoptera
    common name: beetles rank: order

Geographic Coverages

The Belgian Coccinellidae dataset deals with Ladybirds occurrences in Belgian. The INBO subset deals with occurrences pertaining to Flanders, one of the regions and communities of Belgium.

Bibliographic Citations

  1. Branquart E., Maes D. (2003). Update van de verspreiding van de Belgische lieveheersbeestjes. Coccinula, Newsletter of the Belgian Ladybird Working Group 7: 5-23. -
  2. Adriaens T., San Martin G., Maes D. (2008). Invasion history, habitat preferences and phenology of the invasive ladybird Harmonia axyridis in Belgium. BioControl 53(1): 69-88. -
  3. Adriaens T., Branquart E., Maes D. (2003). The Multicoloured Asian Ladybird Harmonia axyridis Pallas (Coleoptera : Coccinellidae), a threat for native aphid predators in Belgium? Belgian Journal of Zoology 133(2): 195-196. -
  4. Helen E. Roy, Tim Adriaens, Nick J. B. Isaac, Marc Kenis, Thierry Onkelinx, Gilles San Martin, Peter M. J. Brown, Louis Hautier, Remy Poland, David B. Roy, Richard Comont, René Eschen, Robert Frost, Renate Zindel, Johan Van Vlaenderen, Oldřich Nedvěd, Hans Peter Ravn, Jean-Claude Grégoire, Jean-Christophe de Biseau, Dirk Maes (2012). Invasive alien predator causes rapid declines of native European ladybirds. Diversity and Distributions (2012) 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1472-4642.2012.00883.x - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1472-4642.2012.00883.x
  5. Kenis M., Adriaens T., Brown P., Katsanis A., Van Vlaenderen J., Eschen R., Golaz L., Zindel R., San Martin G., Babendreier D., Ware R. (2010). Impact of Harmonia axyridis on European ladybirds: which species are most at risk? IOBS/wprs Bulletin 58: 1-3. -
  6. Adriaens T. & Maes D. (2004). Voorlopige verspreidingsatlas van lieveheersbeestjes in Vlaanderen, resultaten van het lieveheersbeestjesproject van de jeugdbonden. Bertram 2 (1bis): 1-69. http://www.inbo.be/docupload/1436.pdf -
  7. Kenis, M., Adriaens, T., Brown, P. M. J., Katsanis, A., San Martin, G., Branquart, E., Maes, D., Eschen, R., Zindel, R., Van Vlaenderen, J., Babendreier, D., Roy, H. E., Hautier, L. & Poland, R. L. (2017) Assessing the ecological risk posed by a recently established invasive alien predator: Harmonia axyridis as a case study. BioControl 62(3):341-354 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-016-9764-x
  8. Adriaens, T., San Martin y Gomez, G., Bogaert, J., Crevecoeur, L., Beuckx, J-P. & Maes, D. (2015) Testing the applicability of regional IUCN Red List criteria on ladybirds (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) in Flanders (north Belgium): opportunities for conservation. Insect Conservation and Diversity 8(5): 404-417. - https://doi.org/10.1111/icad.12124

Contacts

Tim Adriaens
originator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
email: tim.adriaens@inbo.be
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7268-4200
Gilles San Martin y Gomez
originator
Université catholique de Louvain (UCL)
BE
email: gilles.sanmartin@gmail.com
Dirk Maes
originator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
email: dirk.maes@inbo.be
userId: http://www.researcherid.com/rid/B-1819-2009
Dimitri Brosens
originator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) / Belgian Biodiversity Platform
BE
email: dimitri.brosens@inbo.be
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0846-9116
Peter Desmet
originator
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
email: peter.desmet@inbo.be
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8442-8025
Tim Adriaens
metadata author
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
email: tim.adriaens@inbo.be
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7268-4200
Dimitri Brosens
metadata author
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) / Belgian Biodiversity Platform
BE
email: dimitri.brosens@inbo.be
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0846-9116
Peter Desmet
metadata author
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
email: peter.desmet@inbo.be
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8442-8025
content provider
Belgian ladybirds working group
BE
content provider
Natagora
Rue Nanon 98
5000
Namur
BE
email: info@natagora.be
homepage: http://www.natagora.be
content provider
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS)
Rue Vautier 29
Brussels
1000
Brussels Capital Region
BE
homepage: http://www.naturalsciences.be
content provider
Ghent University (UGent)
Ledeganckstraat
Ghent
9000
East-Flanders
BE
email: dominick.verschelde@ugent.be
homepage: http://www.museumvoordierkunde.ugent.be/
content provider
Département de l’Etude du milieu naturel et agricole (DEMNA)
Avenue Maréchal Juin 23
Gembloux
5030
Gembloux
BE
homepage: http://www.environnement.wallonie.be/cgi/dgrne/
content provider
Royal Entomological Society of Antwerp
Lange Beeldekensstraat 272
Antwerpen
2060
Antwerpen
BE
homepage: http://www.kavevzw.be/
Tim Adriaens
administrative point of contact
Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
BE
email: tim.adriaens@inbo.be
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7268-4200
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